The extra bit.........

Didn’t do any running Friday and Saturday. Nothing unusual in that as I usually take a day off Friday. I had planned the time off well in advance as myself and Aoiffe were due to head out for dinner in Cork with my mum. Her birthday is on Stephens Day and can sometimes get forgotten in the exchange of Xmas gifts. Anyway we had a lovely meal in the Electric in the South Mall. I was a bit concerned heading out as the stomach didn’t feel at all good but thankfully had improved by the first course. Avoided dessert this time drinking nothing stronger than mineral water. Aoiffe and Mum drank happily and ate merrily. I had planned to run the Togher 5k at 11 am Saturday morning but it didn’t seem right to leave Mum in the lurch  after spending the night there so we hung around till 1 in the afternoon. Aoiffe decided to have a “look” in the shops while she was up and at this stage my feet were feeling a bit antsy (gotta run, gotta run, gotta run). By the time we got home to Charleville after 3 the stomach was acting up again and I was afraid I had picked up the dreaded vomiting bug. I wasn’t feeling great at all and simply spent the next 3 hours asleep on the couch before sleeping a further 10 hours in bed.

Sunday morning at 8 am the ice outside the drive was pretty bad and the car couldn’t even get up the passage. It meant not heading to Mallow to take part in the club long run and spending another few hours in bed. Thankfully the stomach was a lot better (I will spare readers further details) and I headed out myself at 11 am for a planned 130 minute/15 mile jog. The plan was simply to stay on my feet as long as possible. No heroics required here. Nevertheless I was pleasantly surprised to see I had run 7 miles in a hour (8.33 pace). I felt i was jogging really slowly but the pace was better than I thought. I hoped I could run the next 7 miles in a hour as well but to be fair that wasn’t really the purpose of the run. Anyway to cut a long story short I didn’t (the next 7 miles took 62 minutes) By mile 12 the pace had dropped to 9 minute pace with the agonies really coming over me at mile 15. The last miles were completed in 9.05 pace and I was glad to be finished. 15 miles in 2hrs11minutes30 seconds (8.45 pace).

Monday 30th December was a more relaxed affair. 4 miles at a walk run pace of around 9.50 a mile.